The Rangers have acquired outfielder Carlos Tocci from the White Sox in exchange for cash, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Chicago had selected him with the No. 4 pick in the Rule 5 draft (out of the Phillies’ system).
Tocci was a fairly high-profile sign out of Venezuela for the Phils back in 2011, taking home a reported bonus of $759K at the time. Though he’s never exactly dominated in the minors, he’s coming off a solid .294/.346/.381 slash line in 528 plate appearances between the Phillies’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates — his first stop at each of those levels on his rise through the Majors. Tocci doesn’t come with any power and isn’t a base-stealing threat, but he’s an excellent defensive center fielder with a strong hit tool, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, who had rated him 23rd among Phillies prospects.
Tocci will retain his Rule 5 status with the Rangers, meaning he cannot be optioned to the minors without first being exposed to waivers and then offered back to the Phillies for $50,000. If he lasts the entire season on the Rangers’ big league roster (with at least 90 days on the active roster and not on the DL), he’ll become their property without any restrictions in 2019.
His stats look good. Nice acquisition.
Agreed! Good pick up
Just go ahead and direct deposit that cash right into Machado’s bank account.
Thanks Daniels. Restocking the farm system makes a ton of sense for where the Rangers are right now.
OK – Nice possibility in CF….
But I am still not very impressed with this Rangers off season. Very little money available, gutted farm system, poor pitching (SP & RP), huge swing and miss potential offensively, and as it stands looks like a 3rd-4th club in the american league west.
But hey, we have a new stadium coming, that I have to pay for (tax dollars).
I’ll enjoy the new stadium. Thanks for paying for it–I don’t live in Arlington.
Rangers must be confident choo is getting shipped out.
I am not sure who would be foolish enough to take Choo. 35 years old, poor defensively, declining offensive skill set, huge health concerns/risk, and still owed +/- 60 million over 3 years…. Poor recipe in terms of potential trade value.
Another team wanting to dump a 35 year old with a bad contract at a different position would be my guess.
Sounds possible in theory…. But given roster and player flexibility is at a premium these days, seems like Choo would have even less value. A 1 for 1 swap is very unlikely. The Rangers are going to have to eat a large portion of that contract (if they can find a taker), or Choo is the DH/Bench for the next 3 years.
MLB starting to look like NBA with all the bad contracts only difference is the 420 friendly NBA league don’t have to pee test
Cancer
“[H]e’ll become their property.” Wouldn’t teammate, employee, or member of the organization be better terminology? “Property” sounds like slavery.
What’s wrong with calling it what it is?
You must be fun at parties.
Non-sequiturs are ubiquitous on this app.
Surprised they didn’t go after an Astro in rule 5 like they usually do. They love taking Astros scraps.
Sure glad the Phillies didn’t lose five-tool Tommy Joseph.
Good pickup. Disappointed as a Phils fan.
Phils fan great Tocci is a solid pick up and profiles as a good fourth outfielder. His defense is Major League ready (has been for 2 years or so).
His biggest knock even though his hit tool is a plus is he cannot keep weight on his frame. The Phillies and Tocci tried literally for years to get him to bulk up a bit but it never took. Hence the lack of power.
He’s a good kid though. Nice pick up Rangers, I wish him luck.
Nice. Tocci as 4th OF and Robinson as the utility of the bench isn’t bad at all